AHMED AHRAS

H00203823

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDY 1: DESIGN HOUSE PARTNERSHIPS AT CONCEPT DESIGN

SERVICES

1. What markets are the Disney resorts and parks aiming for?
Disney segments their market based on demography and geography. They
have planned and opened their theme parks in the most visited cities in the
world such as Paris, Tokyo and California. This helps the company to aim for
the visiting tourists as well as the large number of locals already in the
region.

2. Was Disney's choice of the Paris site a mistake? Justify your argument.
Disneys choice of the Paris site cannot be considered as a mistake as the site
had a large potential to attract the large number of people already living
around Paris. The site was within 2 hour drive for 17 million people and a 4
hour drive for 68 million people. There was also strong transport links to the
location and Paris already had a large number of people visiting as tourists.
Disneyland Paris did not perform as expected because the company couldnt
adapt to European style of labor and culture. Therefore, the failure of
Disneyland Paris cannot be connected to Disneys choice of the Paris site.

3. Identify various criterias that could be used to evaluate a location?

The climate of the region plays an important role in attracting guests.
The site should be large but also not far from the city so that
transportation to the park is easier.
Availability of transport to the site.
Support from local people and labor groups.
Financial support from the Government and banks.
Compatibility of local culture with the cultural values of Disney.
Current flow of tourists to the location to attract international guests.

4. What aspects of their park's design did Disney change and not change
(minimum two aspects each) when it constructed Euro Disney?
Although Disney wanted to keep the designs and visions of the company
derived from its founder Walt Disney, they had to change many aspects of
the parks design to accommodate European culture. Two of these aspects
are:
a) To tackle the charges of Disney becoming a vehicle for American
cultural imperialism, Disney designed the park to accommodate the
European heritage of their characters. They even featured characters
 from the storylines of the author, Jules Verne. They also changed
background for a few of their characters; making characters like
Cinderella reside in a French inn.
b) Disney conducted a poll in which it was indicated that a large number
of people would respond to a Wild West image of America. They
redesigned few of their rides and even their hotels to accommodate
this theme to satisfy the local guests.

Although a few changes had to be made in the design and appearance of

the park, Disney was quite strong in not changing their core values and
themes:

a) Disney didnt change their strict grooming requirements on emphasizing

a strict dress code and cleanliness and also a ban on facial hair. Even
though the press and trade unions objected this move by claiming that
the requirements were very strict than it was considered in France,
Disney refused to modify their grooming standards.
b) The park was basically built to contain Disneys own characters same as
their American counterparts.

5. List down all main mistakes done by Disney's from the conception of the Paris
resort through to 2006?
Disneyland Paris did not perform as forecasted; there are a large number of
mistakes done by the management and the whole team. The main mistakes
are as follows:
Disney failed to subdue the local peoples fear that Disneys American
culture is harmful for the Europeans. This led to a disappointing
attendance in the opening day of the park.
Disney failed to change its style of work to accommodate European
style of working to accommodate European style of working. This
resulted in a large number of employees leaving the company.
The park had very few rides compared to its other counterparts
worldwide and was heavily criticized.